Deerfly Patches review

Let me start by saying that deer fly patches are not a gimmick! I was definitely skeptic myself, but they definitely work. Yes, it’s flypaper that you wear–so what? They come in 2×6 inch strips with a mildly-sticky side that sticks to your hat and then a very sticky side that faces up to capture the deer flies.

Pros:

-Definitely attracts and captures deer flies.

-They are sticky enough so the wings stick too, so you can’t hear/feel flies buzzing while stuck to you head.

-Definitely bitten less than usual.

-Relatively inexpensive (12 patches for $8, 40/$20, 80/$35, or 200/$80) especially for the salvation they offer. Even better if you can get away with cutting them up and only using 1/4 to 1/3 a patch at a time (see Test #2 below)

-Sticks well to hat and comes off just as easy (doesn’t leave any residue from tape)

Cons:

-You have flies stuck to your head.

-Not much of a fashion statement.

Test 1: 11 mile run consisting of mainly country gravel roads with about 3 miles of paved country roads. 75º and overcast with not much breeze around 11am. Ran shirtless. Full strip used. Result: 23 deer flies caught, and 1 silly house fly. Still bitten 2-3 times total on back/neck.

Test 2: 5 mile run on half country paved roads and the other half on country gravel roads. 65º and sunny without much breeze at 8:30am. About 1/4 of a strip used and ran with shirt on. Result: 21 flies caught and no bites!